There is one player on the Phoenix Suns who probably does not receive enough credit for what he has meant to the team this season. He’s shooting 47.8% from deep in fourth quarters this season. He’s second on the team in total rebounds in clutch moments. He’s third on the team in total steals. His name is Royce O’Neale.
When people talk about the weaknesses of the roster, the conversation often lands on the power forward position. That is where many believe the opportunity sits. Add more size, add
more length, give the lineup another traditional body at that spot. The assumption is that the lack of size could eventually place a ceiling on what Phoenix can accomplish this year. And that may be true. But the work Royce O’Neale has done this season should not go unnoticed.
He is not the prototypical power forward. Everyone understands that. His frame does not match the traditional image of the position. The absence of size does not mean he does not belong in the Suns’ starting lineup. Because what he brings to the floor solves problems elsewhere. O’Neale spaces the floor. He scores when the opportunity presents itself. Most importantly, he bends defenses in a way that creates opportunities for everyone around him.
Look at last night’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks, and Royce O’Neale was vital to the victory.
You can glance at the box score and your eyes go straight to the obvious names. Devin Booker with 27 points. Jalen Green with 25. Those numbers jump off the page. Royce O’Neale quietly delivered 21 points of his own, doing so on 7-of-11 shooting from beyond the arc. More importantly, it was what happened in the third quarter that defined his night.
Kyle Kuzma caught absolute fire for Milwaukee. In an eight-minute stretch, he went 4-of-5 from deep and 6-of-9 from the field, pouring in 16 points while carrying the Bucks offense. Phoenix found itself staring at an 11-point deficit, and the momentum inside the building was beginning to tilt. That is the moment where games can spiral.
But every time Kuzma delivered a punch, Royce O’Neale answered it. Shot for shot.
O’Neale played the entire third quarter and went 6-of-8 from the field, scoring 18 points and accounting for nearly half of the Suns’ 38 points in the period. His shooting kept Phoenix steady during the stretch when Milwaukee was threatening to break the game open. Heck, he even hit a half-court buzzer beater to end the frame.
That performance was one of many moments this season where Royce has shown exactly why he matters to this team.
He is averaging a career-best 10 points per game, while shooting 40.1% from beyond the arc and launching 6.8 threes a night. Those are meaningful numbers for a player whose primary responsibility is to space the floor and keep defenses honest. And maybe the most valuable stat attached to Royce O’Neale this season is the simplest one.
Availability.
He has appeared in all 65 games for the Phoenix Suns and started 60 of them. On a team that has battled injuries all season long, having a player who shows up every night carries real value.
Too often people focus on what a roster does not have. The conversation drifts toward the hypothetical. If only they had this type of player, if only they had that archetype, everything would fall into place. That is rarely how it works. You solve one issue, and another appears. That is basketball. That is life.
Sure, the Suns could add a 6’9” power forward someday. Maybe that eventually becomes (fingers crossed!) Rasheer Fleming. The dream archetype is easy to describe. Length, athleticism, rim running ability, outside shooting, defensive switchability, and strong instincts. The player who checks every box.
Finding that player is the difficult part. And when you do find someone who checks all those boxes, the price tag rarely sits around $10.1 million a year.
Meanwhile, the Suns already have someone who spaces the floor, knocks down threes, and creates disruption on defense. Royce has done an excellent job playing the passing lanes this season as well. He ranks fourth on the team with 1.2 steals per game, which also happens to be a career high.
I have talked often this season about how a number of best-case scenarios have quietly unfolded for the Phoenix Suns. Royce O’Neale fits squarely into that category. He still has two years remaining on his contract, set to earn $10.9 million next season and $11.6 million in 2027–28. Because of his play and the overall success of the team, Phoenix never felt pressure to move him at the trade deadline for pennies on the dollar.
Imagine the alternative for a moment. If the team had been struggling and Royce was putting together a poor season, the conversation might have looked very different. At that point, he would have had 2.5 years left on his contract, and the value attached to that deal might not have been particularly appealing to other teams.
Instead, the opposite has occurred.
He continues to increase his overall value, if that is what the Suns are looking to do with him this offseason. If teams exit the playoffs early and begin searching for reliable shooting, Royce O’Neale is the type of player who becomes attractive in those conversations. Or Phoenix can simply keep him, allowing the roster to continue developing players behind him on the depth chart like Rasheer Fleming.
That is the best place an organization can live. In a world with options.
Yes, there are nights when teams with size create problems for Phoenix. Royce feels that challenge the same way others on the roster do. The development of players like Rasheer Fleming and Khaman Maluach gives head coach Jordan Ott additional levers to pull when those matchups appear, but the fact does remain that size might be what ultimately sinks the U.S.S. Suns come playoff time. And like teams looking to improve shooting, the Suns might explore options for size. Again, options. They’re nice to have.
It circles back to the same idea. The best-case scenario continues to unfold in front of us.
Royce is not going to shoot 7-of-11 from deep every night. Although the possibility that he might is enough to keep defenses honest. That spacing matters. That threat matters. And it deserves appreciation. Because sometimes the bird in hand is worth far more than the two sitting somewhere in the bush.
